She heard a knock at the door and she bit her lip, worried that it was Ben come to shout at her again or laugh in her face or Richard, there to attempt some poor attempt at a lie. She sat there and ignored the knocking.
"Louise, are you there?" She heard David's voice, soft and excited at the door. She walked to the door slowly and put on a big smile.
"Hey." She found herself searching his face to figure out if he knew what was going on.
"Hey, I'm glad you answered. I was wondering if you would like to go dancing tonight." He beamed at her, "It'll be fun, I know a cool little salsa place."
"Oh, I don't know. I'm not such a good dancer."
"More the reason to come, I'm an excellent teacher." He grinned at her and she felt herself caving. His blond hair was shining and she wanted to run her hands through it to see if it was as spiky as it looked. She stared into his sparkling blue eyes and felt a tinge of regret that it wasn't Richard's condescending brown eyes looking back at her.
"Maybe." she smiled half-heartedly. "Let me shower and I will let you know."
"Sure. See you downstairs in a bit."
Louise closed the door and sighed. What was happening to her? Just a couple of days ago she would have died for David to ask her out. In fact, of all the Beekman brother's, he was the one who seemed to be the most combative with her. And as far as she knew he was single. She walked to the shower feeling sorry for herself. She had half hoped that Richard would have appeared at the door and tried to explain himself. I mean she would understand if he had come and said that Monique was some girl from his past that he didn't really care about but had never made the time to dump her. She could, well would understand that. She didn't want to think that he actually cared about Monique. She felt something eat inside of her as she thought about the beautiful redhead. She was definitely gorgeous and had a body Louis was envious of. She was as slim as a model and while Louise knew she wasn't fat she definitely had a few extra pounds.
She realized that Richard had not promised her anything and likely wanted her as a booty call or some sort of assistant with sexual benefits but there was something about him that made her heart beat really rapidly and that hadn't happened since she was a little kid.
She sang to herself while in the shower. "I'm going to wash that man right out of my hair. I'm going to wash that man right out of my hair." She scrubbed herself hard as she could, doing everything she could think to get a bright and lustrous skin tone for the evening. She wanted to look amazing so that both Monique and Richard would look at her and think wow. She didn't give any thought to David at until she started getting dressed. She wanted to look sexy but she didn't want David to think that she was dolling herself up for him. That just wouldn't do, there was no way that she could sleep with two brothers in a weekend that just wouldn't do. Especially when she had been dating their brother. Louise contemplated signing up for a therapist when she got back to New York; it seemed to her that she had some extreme issues to take care of. If she had just dumped Ben ages ago, none of this would have happened and she wouldn't be feeling like her heart was breaking.
She settled on a sexy gold sequined dress that she had bought at Forever 21. The dress was a little short and snug because it didn't really fit her properly. They hadn't had her size and she had bought it with a promise that she would lose some weight and be able to fit into the chair. Unfortunately that hasn't happened. She decided to go all out with her makeup and put on a deep black mascara and eyeliner that brought out the golden brown speckles in her eyes. She applied some gold shimmer to her eyelids and a deep red lipstick to her lips. She licked her lips after she applied some glittery lip-gloss and smiled at her reflection in the mirror. She spent the next 30 minutes straightening out her naturally wavy hair and ran her hands through the silky softness that her Chi had helped her create. She finished her new look with a generous spray of Vera Wang's Princess perfume and delighted in her new look and smell. She looked and felt great and she tried hard to ignore that feeling of self-doubt and depression from taking over her.
"You barely know this man Louise, get it together." She muttered to herself as she thought of svelte Monique. She sighed and grabbed her clutch and hurried down the stairs. She groaned to herself when she saw Ben waiting at the bottom of the stairs and stopped herself from running back to her room. Taking a big deep breath, she smiled at him and wished him a good evening.
"You have no chance with Richard." His voice was low and he sounded sorry for her. "He'll never leave Monique for you. You gambled on the wrong brother."
She turned around and looked at him with a determined look on her face. "Look Ben, I'm sorry that things went the way that they did but you know that we had no real connection. Please let's not fool ourselves here. I hope that one day you can forgive me."
He looked at her dismissively. "You are a first class fool Louise, trust me, no good will come of this." Ben spun around and walked to the living room. Louise stood there frozen, she didn't know what to do, she already felt as if Ben was right. She was a fool to have gotten caught in Richard's spell. He was as dark and sensuous a man she had ever met but she also knew that her involvement with him would lead to nothing but bad luck for her.
"Wow, looking hot." David interrupted her reverie and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "You clean up well Louise."
She smiled at him and noticed that he was looking very dapper with his black pants and crisp white shirt. The contrast of the white against his tanned neck and face seemed to make his skin glow like a golden statue. The sun had bleached his blond hair and he looked the epitome of the handsome rich playboy.
"You look very nice yourself." She kept her voice cool so as to not lead him on. She realized at she stared at his gorgeous face and body that he felt absolutely nothing for him. She froze as she heard a high tinkling laugh walking towards them from the living room. Her heart started beating rapidly and she felt a nervous tension in her stomach. Not two seconds later she saw the source of the laughter, Monique and Richard enter the room. Monique looked stunning, as Louise knew that she would. She was wearing a silk green emerald dress with a plunging neckline, her br**sts were pretty much exposed except for the ni**les and her long red hair hung in curls around her face. She looked at Louise and dismissed her with one glance. She smiled brightly at David and gave him a hug. It was a huge hug and she pressed herself into his chest.
"My dear David, how handsome you look tonight." She purred at him and Louise ignored her. She felt Richard standing next to her staring at her.